Sinn Féin councillor, Maeve McLaughlin, who doesn’t believe Londonderry [And Northern Ireland? – Ed] is still part of the UK, is now complaining that she can’t search the National Archives of Ireland for ‘Derry’. As the Derry Journal reports
Sinn Féin councillor Maeve McLaughlin said a number of local people had raised concerns about the website.
“I was contacted by a constituent this week who had read in the local press that the National Archives of Ireland had a new online facility which provided details of the household returns and ancillary records for the censuses of Ireland of 1901 and 1911
“They decided to go online and check out details on their family history but were slightly surprised when they went to check details about Derry that they had to enter Londonderry in the search engine. In the section entitled Ireland in the early 20th century it gives details on the history of cities such as Belfast, Dublin, Waterford but Derry is not included,” she said.
Colr. McLaughlin called on the owners of the site to change the search terms. “I understand the material being entered on this site may be a work in progress but I find it strange that a city with as much history and culture as Derry is not on there already. I would urge the National Archives of Ireland to review the content of the site as soon as possible. This web site is used by the Irish diaspora across the world and as reference point and a very important educational tool,” she said.
In the interests of accuracy, and education, it’s worth pointing out that the website allows users to search the censuses by county name – not by city name – from a pre-defined list.
And here’s the ‘Ireland in the early 20th Century’ online exhibition she’s complaining about – only 6 cities are included 2 cities, Belfast and Dublin, are included specifically. The other entries are for counties Galway, Waterford, Kerry and Cork.
Btw, Londonderry will find out on July 15th whether its bid to become the UK City of Culture for 2013 has been successful…
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